car seat in grocery cart??

[wellyes]

I used an Ergo until my DD was able to sit in the seat.
If it doesn't feel safe, it probably isn't.
I do wonder how many people assume it's safe because they see others doing it.

[maestramommy]

Before I had kids, I thought that's what you did, put your carseat in the front seat of the cart. Because that's what I saw everywhere, and it seemed a nifty place to put it. But for some reason our infant seat (Baby Trend Latch Loc) wouldn't fit into the Target cart very well. The hook in the back was so high the bottom of the seat never even touched the cart. Too sketchy for me. The other problem was that the whole rig was so high I had trouble seeing over the top, and as a result really had trouble steering and seeing where I was going. This was a HUGE problem at TJs because the aisles are already narrow. After a couple of attempts I gave up and kept Dora in my sling. I think I didn't read about how dangerous the whole setup is until after the fact. Makes total sense. I mean, the seat makes it all so tippy.

[sunshine873]

It's incredibly dangerous. I was kind of jealous at first, because I saw so many people walking around that way. I liked how they could look closely at their baby and still have all that room in the cart. But once I really learned how dangerous it was (thank you BBB) I was glad that the Keyfit is specifically built to not fit on shopping carts. DD very quickly developed a hated with her carseat unless it was in the car & the car was moving (I hated stop lights!) So we started using a carrier quite early on. That was much easier anyway and helped to keep so many people from touching her (not that some didn't still try.)

[Ceepa]

I did sometimes but the angle didn't seem comfortable for baby so I just wheeled my stroller through the store instead.

[arivecchi]

It is really dangerous to do that. A baby carrier is the best option until they are old enough to securely sit in the toddler seat. Read this thread for more info:

http://www.windsorpeak.com/vbulletin...+shopping+cart

[MMEand1]

I never did it and always put the baby bucket (infant carseat) in the main basket part. I put the handle down in the back to give the car seat a "base" so it would not wobble so much. It worked on both seats we used for my DC.

[Sweetum]

I just used my snap and go and used the basket underneath for the things, and typically it wouldn't be a full-fledged shopping trip. didn't think it was a good idea to put the seat on the cart.

[edurnemk]

I never did it, and I'm pretty sure most car seat manuals state you're not supposed to. But, yeah, you see a million people doing it.

When DS was a baby, I would put the infant seat in the main (big )part of the cart, or use the stroller bakset for groceries (I have a Vista, so BIG basket). Or if I was getting more stuff I'd wear DS. When he was older and sitting up on his own I got a shopping cart seat cover.

I would never ever put the car seat on top of the seat, even if it did "snap" in some way, although neither the cart nor the car seat are designed for that. I understand the convinience of it, but I would be too nervous about the car seat tipping over. That's just my humble opinion.

[DrSally]

I did it sometimes. But, the angle had to be right for the carseat (it was easier with the old, small snugride than the Safeseat). There was a red hook on the bottom of the seat that would clip onto the cart, but I didn't trust that. I either kept both hands on the steering bar, up against both sides of the carseat, or one hand on the carseat itself. Sometimes, I would put the carseat in the main basket or the stroller too. ETA: I do not feel comfortable walking away from a cart with a carseat on top and I've seen many carseats on top with a terrible angle and the baby not really strapped in (gives me a heart attack).

[hopeful_mama]

Before we bought our carseat, I read a lot of people here saying that it was dangerous to put them in the carts. I mentioned this to DH, who found it hard to believe (he prefers to use his own judgement over others'). So when we went carseat shopping we made a point of testing the ones we were considering in the store's cart, and I was surprised that despite the warnings, they were stable.

It sounds like there are carseats or carts (or bad combinations of both) where they're not very stable, but so far we've never had an issue - it just takes a few seconds to find a secure position, but once there, it won't budge (like a pp, we have a Keyfit). And the only way the cart could fall over is if someone physically turns it over - I've never seen that happen to anyone, and my DH or I am always right there anyway. But a child running into the cart is not going to tip it over.

Bottom line - if we felt it weren't safe, we wouldn't do it, and I hope that's true for every parent. I'm surprised by how many people just assume it's always dangerous and that parents who do it are being negligent. Maybe this is just not a one size fits all issue.